The recent accounts of a snake infestation at Dollar General Store in Fancy Gap may have been exaggerated, according to Dan MacDonald, General Dollar’s senior director of corporate communications.

Advertisement

Reports surfaced Aug. 29 that snakes were overrunning Dollar General. One caller to The Carroll News referred to the snakes as copperheads, and the topic drew many comments on Facebook.

“We did have a very small snake problem. We think a snake came into the store by direct shipment, and we think that snake had baby snakes,” said MacDonald. “When an employee went to the back room, she saw the snakes, most of which weren’t much larger than an earthworm.”

A customer in the store at the time saw that the employee was visibly shaken and asked what was wrong. After being shown the snakes, he used a broom to sweep the snakes into a dust pan, then took them outside and released the snakes into the wild, according to MacDonald.

However, to make sure the store was clear of any snakes, MacDonald said the store was closed on Aug. 29 and at least part, if not all, of Aug. 30.

“Anytime you have this kind of issue, you want to make sure. Our customers should have a high level of comfort,” he said.

MacDonald added that a pest control company, Terminix, was called in, as well as a wildlife expert, although he didn’t have the name of the expert readily available.

Terry Woods, Carroll County’s animal control officer, said he received a call from a Dollar General employee on Aug. 30 saying “there were several snakes inside the store.” Woods said a couple of deputies went to the store and found a sign that read “temporarily closed.”

“They went around and beat and knocked, but never could get anybody to the door. They tried to call the store manager, but never got anyone,” added Woods, who received a call from General Dollar’s district manager later that day.

“He said they had gotten some (snakes) out and thought there were two more they may have missed. I said, if they know where they are, we don’t have a problem with coming, but we won’t make any promises. I said the best thing for him to do, if they don’t know where they’re at, is to call an exterminator. That is the last I heard of it.”

If the snakes came into the store from the outside, rather than through shipping, Woods said the snakes were probably brown water snakes.

“I heard copperheads, rattlesnakes. I don’t know what kind of snakes were there. More than likely, because of the streams behind the store, I would say it was probably the brown water snakes, but I don’t know, I wasn’t there and didn’t see them. People get the brown water snakes mixed up with copperheads all the time,” he noted.